1959 MK 2 Zephyr

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zephyrgary
Posts: 1237
Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2007 6:55 pm
Location: cave creek,az

1959 MK 2 Zephyr

Post by zephyrgary »

It is with some regret that I have decided to sell my Zephyr. As you will see in the pics below, I bought the Vauxhall Cresta that was on BaT recently. I have owned many Zephyrs over the years but never had the full Vauxhall experience, which fueled my decision.
It was bought new in 1959 by a lady who kept it until 2012 when she was no longer able to drive. She always garaged it in winter and it was periodically sprayed with some form of Waxoyl as evidenced by the more than 20 rubber bungs dotted about the doors and rockers, etc.. In the pics you will see these and also on the drivers door you will see the year stickers from the various treatments. It still has the original YOM plate on the front which I have matched with a current AZ plate. It then passed briefly through the hands of a dealer who drove it sparingly and then on to me last year.
The body is really solid, never welded, paint is only average but it does polish up well and look good from about 10 feet. You could paint it but if I were to keep it I would leave it as is. New front and rear windshield rubbers and door rubbers. Door welts and head liner appear to be original. Carpet is new. Original trunk mat with Enfo stamp. Even the interior light works. As you can see in the pics the interior is all original and in very good shape in a funky peach/coral color. For you anoraks out there, note the return aluminum strip which mimics a Zodiac, but was added by someone. Dealer add on maybe?
As delivered there was a cylinder gasket leak so I replaced that. I also replaced transmission pan gasket. I added 6 x 15 chrome smoothies with 205-60-15s on the back and 185-60-15s on the rear. These have less than a thousand miles on them.
The entire brake system was renewed except for the hard lines and the front brake shoes. This means the master, all 6 slaves and the three rubber hoses were replaced. As mentioned previously in this forum they were a devil to bleed and I was unable to use the car for 5 months. In the end I took it to another mechanic for a second opinion and he instantly diagnosed a faulty master, even though it was new. We replaced it and the brakes are excellent. We also replaced inner and outer bearings and tab washers on the rear axle. The steering was a bit wobbly so we replaced the TCA inner bush and sway bar bush kit all in urethane. It now drives, stops and steers perfectly.
In the interest of full disclosure, and as mentioned in this forum, I am pretty sure it might need rings as it was a little chuffy before I added a PCV. That said it drives so well I am tempted to leave it alone and see if they free up with more use. When I did the cylinder head the bores were very clean. Also the PO kept a book that recorded mileage and there is an entry that mentions an engine rebuild about 20,000 miles ago. I realize this proves nothing, but there it is. A tranny rebuild was also mentioned.
As I said it drives really well. If you are gentle on the gas it pootles along nicely. However, if you stand on it, it holds the gears about 10 mph longer and is quite peppy. I did errands in it today and it had no problem keeping up with the traffic at 50-55 mph.
By now I probably have over US $11,000 in it, but we all know how that goes.
I would like to get US $8500 for it. You can call me on my cell phone 480-323-0855. I work most days 4-8pm. Or you can PM me or email me at gary212 At yahoo dot com.


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the older i get,the faster i went...
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